Had this one on the weekend during my Tiger King binge…
I’m skeptical with grapefruit teas – when they’re good they’re usually really good but when they’re poorly done they can be intolerable. DT is a good example; you have ones like Banana Grapefruit and Grapefruit Rose Starburst which I find AMAZING and things like Grapefruit Granita or Grapefruit Squeeze which weren’t well done at all IMO. Same company, but very different sides of the coin…
This is… alright? I say that with a question mark because I think with experimentation I may be able to steep it better, but it’s enjoyable and has some positive qualities even without tweaking. The aroma is very nice; sweet pink grapefruit – fresh, a little floral, and effervescent. It’s the type of grapefruit aroma that makes you perk up a little bit because of how fresh it is. Steeped, it’s accurate to the aroma just lesser in intensity; some intensity loss is to be expected for dry aroma to steeped aroma but I do think more freshness has been lost that I would have expected to be normal; the grapefruit has good clarity and leans sweet but natural instead of pithy/bitter. Note, it’s not sugary but sweet in a balanced way. I don’t want more sweetness at all, that would be cloying, but if the “juiciness” could be amped up a little bit that would elevate this to a sublime level. As it stands, it’s a little flat even if the flavour is nice and clear.
I’m not sure where I fall on the Bai Mu Dan style white tea base that Adagio seems to be using for their flavoured white tea blends – it doesn’t elicit a knee jerk reaction of disgust but I don’t think it’s superb quality either. That said, it’s muted enough that it’s been making for a really good “canvas” white tea so far to really let whatever flavour is in the blend shine through quite well…
On first steep snap impression, this is somewhere in that rare middle zone of grapefruit blends where it’s not a “WOW” tea or something I find repulsive/don’t want to finish. I’m gonna see if I can make the grapefruit pop more, though.
